Cracks emerge in Iran's leadership

Iran's hierarchy is showing signs of fracturing over a war its leaders see as existential, with angry divisions between hardliners and more pragmatic factions laid bare by a row over President Masoud Pezeshkian's promise not to strike Gulf states.



Fissures within Iran's ruling elite were long suppressed under the iron rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but his killing a week ago has allowed them to spill out into the open as U.S. and Israeli strikes pile pressure on Tehran.



The unrelenting bombardment mortally imperils the Islamic Republic and ⁠has prompted its fiercest acolytes, the Revolutionary Guards, to seize a bigger role in strategy despite a decapitation campaign that has killed many top commanders.



Sources close to Iran's leadership, speaking from inside the country, told ​Reuters the strains were starting to show among leading figures still alive after a series of killings in the U.S.-Israeli strikes.



They spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the matter.



In a sign of the growing stresses to the system, clerics are accelerating the appointment of a new supreme leader with a decision to be made soon - though ​it is far from clear if Khamenei's successor will wield enough authority to stamp out factional disputes.